Settled in new home in Florida

The movers arrived about 9:30 a.m. on Monday, September 11th.   They loaded the truck in about 3 hours.   As they finished loading furniture and boxes from each room, I swept and mopped the floors.  I left it as clean as possible in the time I had, but we were rushing to drive through Atlanta before the afternoon traffic piled up.   We drove the entire 9 hours to Clearwater and arrived at Leigh Ann's condo at 10:30 p.m.  We were truly tired from a long day's work and drive.   We slept well and arrived at the condo the next morning after breakfast at Leigh Ann's.     

The movers did not get here until late afternoon to begin unloading.  

They were moving too fast for me to keep boxes together for each room but it was getting late and getting it all unloaded and inside was the main thing.   They were very cooperative to set up beds and put furniture where I suggested.  We went to bed and started unpacking the next morning.  I gave Ron the task of unpacking all of his things and I started on the kitchen first. Slowly, box after box was unpacked and things put away and in three days, it was done!

Leigh Ann and I have rearranged things in the living room and dining room but with the small rooms, there is limited space to change things.   We had only seen a video of this condo and the previous owner had lighter furniture which fit in better and gave more floor space to get around things.    We are pleased that I found a place for everything, and we can surely use all of it.   

 

We are about 10-20 minutes' from Leigh Ann but further from Tatum who lives in Tampa.    Stores are within 4 or 5 miles and two congregations are that close also.   It will be a convenient place for us old folks to live out our last years.        

We are tired from the packing, moving and unpacking but slowly feeling normal again.   Our computer work got behind and we are busy catching up again.    The quarterly reports about the girls are pouring in and I will get them to their sponsors next week.

Moving is never easy but this one was especially hard.    There seemed to be a lot more to move, get rid of and yet I left many things in the house for Ronald and Gigi to dispose of someday when they sell the house in Woodstock.   Leaving good neighbors was really hard.   One has texted me that she's still pretending that we are just on a trip to Asia and will be back.    I am thankful for the strength and ability to make this move as I am not sure it would have been possible in another year.   We almost waited too long to make our final move.    I am thankful for the blessings of a nice place to live and our health to get through the move.

The condo is easy to clean and keep straight.   It will be a simpler lifestyle, but I miss having a yard and a place to go outside and walk around.    I took my first walk this morning to a shopping center within a half mile.   There are sidewalks the entire way and a crosswalk for pedestrians.    I walked through the Bealls' outlet store, Dollar Tree and Save-A-Lot grocery store.   They are well-stocked and good stores.  There is a pharmacy, a hair salon and three restaurants in this strip center.   It is very convenient to have these stores so near to us.

We went to church with Leigh Ann on Sunday.   She goes to Pinellas Park church of Christ in Clearwater.    She came and picked us up and it took about l/2 hour to drive there.   There are two closer churches to us and we will visit them in the next few weeks.   

Sunday was Leigh Ann's birthday. 

We treated her to Asian food at P. F. Chang's Restaurant and really had a wonderful meal.   She got a birthday dessert, large enough for all three of us to have a chocolate overdose.  

Leigh Ann had the condo clean and stocked with supplies and food.   It was a wonderful help to us but we know she worked very hard to have it so perfect.   We are so grateful for her love and willingness to help us in every way.

Our trip to the Mayo Clinic for the remainder of the health tests for Ron will be October 5-6.    We will have to go to Jacksonville on the 4th as he has an early appointment on the 5th.   

The Mayo Clinic is a four-hour drive from here.   

I will post again when we have more news to report.   Thanks to everyone for the well wishes for our new home in Florida.   If any of you are ever in this area, please come by or call.    God bless you all. 

    

What doesn't kill you just makes you stronger!

Have you heard that expression?    I am NOT sure it is true.   I have been packing for about 3 weeks and it has about killed me.   I don't feel stronger, either.    We have 99% of the packing done and expect to wind it up in a couple more days.    It has been the hardest move we have made, perhaps because we've accumulated more "things" to go through and we are much older.    There are things in the house that belongs to Ronald and Gigi so I had to be sure those items are secure so movers will not load their things.  I have gone through things Leigh Ann and Tatum left and decided what I need to take for them to keep. 

The Woodstock church of Christ will have a coat giveaway in the fall so they took my coats, sweaters, winter vests, scarfs and gloves.   They also took boxes of religious books that Ron can no longer keep and use.

Good Will got several loads of clothing and household items we cannot use.   I shared kitchen stuff with Ronald and Gigi and will leave some furniture and other items for them to use or throw away.   They will come back the middle of October for about 5 weeks to report to churches near here (North Alabama, Southern Tennessee).  On this trip back to the U.S., they will live in this house (which belongs to them).   They will have to rake leaves and get the yard is better shape for the winter months.   Ronald will determine what work needs to be done on the house before they put it on the market next year.   

This has been a family house for all of us at one time or another.   

Leigh Ann and Tatum lived here for several years.  We came to live here in June, 2020 due to Covid-19.    We could no longer visit churches to give reports and we gave up living in the RV.  

We have recently made two weekend trips (North Alabama and Tennessee) to see supporters and friends.   Our long-distance travels will be much harder as we will be living 9 hours south of Atlanta.

Jackie Feng, our Chinese SAS worker, has his green card now and he can travel internationally to visit our safe houses in the future.   The timing has been perfect as we spent 6 months in Thailand last winter getting the last safe house ready for girls.

Ron continues to turn more of the work over to Jackie and he is doing a great job.   We have two other men interested in working part-time (at this time) to assist with the fundraising and management aspects of the work.   Ron is not retiring by any means, but he is reducing the SAS load he has shouldered since 2015.  My work with SAS will also continue.   

The lifestyle of a condo will be simpler for us than living in a house.   We will not have any outside work or maintenance that we are responsible for.    The condo has new equipment/appliances and we do not anticipate having any additional expenses or work.  We are simply reducing the amount of work and stress for our last productive years.    We are getting to be old guys now and are feeling the "senior citizen" status.    

In January, 2023, we were in a train station in Vientiane, Laos in this picture, leaving to go to Luang Prabang, Loas (our safe house has 13 girls there.   

Our condo it about a 10-minute drive from Leigh Ann.   She lives in Clearwater.  Tatum, our granddaughter, lives in Tampa.  She is probably 30-40 minutes from us.    

We will enjoy getting to see them more after many years apart.   We do regret that we won't see Ronald and Gigi as they will be coming here to get the house ready for sale and to report to their sponsors for at least the next year.

We have not celebrated Thanksgiving or Christmas holidays in years.    We lived in St. Croix and St. Barts in the Caribbean for 7 years at the beginning of our mission work (1984-1991) and the winter holidays are not the same festive occasions from a warm climate.    We will enjoy some good meals and family times during these holidays this year.    Last year, Ron and I went to Central Plaza (mall) in Udon Thani, Thailand and had holiday meals at a restaurant by ourselves.   

A dear friend, Ellen Mao, is l/2 owner of the condo we purchased.   She helped us out financially by being a co-owner of the condo.   

Ellen hopes to relocate herself to FL in a few years.

If all goes well, the movers will be here in North GA on September 11th and unload in Dunedin, FL on September 13th.   It will take a few weeks to put everything away and get organized.

Ron has some additional tests at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, FL on October 5-6.    The trip will be a four-hour drive from Dunedin.

We continue to thank our family, friends, sponsors and supporters for keeping in touch and helping us with the work in Asia.   We ask for your prayers to continue for our workers, the girls, Ronald and Gigi's work in the Philippines and for us in our new home environment.

If any of you want to be our guests in Dunedin, FL, just let us know when you are coming.   We will leave the porch light on for you and welcome you with open arms.  

Remember you can contact us by email at ronbrown20@gmail.com and me at patbrown10@gmail.com.

God bless you!